The Ghana Armed Forces Engineer Regiment has begun a GH¢35 million land reclamation operation in the Tano Nimri Forest Reserve, deploying its engineering expertise to restore areas destroyed by illegal small-scale mining.

The military engineers, leading the fieldwork under a partnership with the Ghana Gold Board (GoldBod), with the project targeting 50 hectares of degraded land in Compartment 161 of the reserve.

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The operation involves heavy earthmoving, filling abandoned mining pits, stabilising the soil and reshaping the damaged terrain to make it suitable for reforestation.

The team is also constructing drainage channels to help prevent soil and mining debris from being washed into the Tano River.

The Ghana Armed Forces Engineer Regiment, under the leadership of Major Shem Adolinama, is responsible for the engineering works, which are expected to lay the foundation for the long-term restoration of the affected forest area.

The intervention follows extensive environmental damage recorded in the reserve between 2021 and 2024. About 192.4 hectares of woodland were reportedly affected during the period, leaving portions of the forest degraded and in need of rehabilitation.

GoldBod’s Sustainability Manager, Samuel Danso, said the work must go beyond filling the pits left behind by illegal miners, stressing the need to stabilise the land before vegetation can be restored.

“Illegal mining has left deep pits and damaged the land. We need to fill these pits, stabilise the soil and prepare the area for reforestation,” he said.

He added that the condition of the land after the engineering works would be critical to the success of the restoration effort.

“Reclaiming the land is only the first step. The area must also be prepared properly to support the growth of trees and other vegetation,” Danso said.

Once the reclamation works are completed, the site is expected to be handed over to the Forestry Commission in the coming weeks for the planting of trees and indigenous vegetation.

The exercise is intended to restore the damaged landscape and support the recovery of the forest ecosystem.

ANAS/VPO

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